


Heat/Lightning

by realjane



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ben Solo in briefs, Comfort, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24918013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realjane/pseuds/realjane
Summary: London is... unseasonably warm, which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't come with a thunderstorm.Prompt:Pairing: Rey/Ben SoloLocation: London, EnglandSummer Word Prompt: Heat LightningWritten for the Christmas in July 2020 Fest in Melting Pot Fanfiction!
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Christmas in July 2020





	Heat/Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Kaitlyn and Shelly for helping me brainstorm ideas <3

"Oh my god--I'm shaving my head." Ben secured his mess of black hair in a tie to get the infernal weight off his neck. Sweat beaded on his brow. He stood in front of the open window, fanning his torso.

Rey snickered. "No, you won't." She handed him a glass of iced tea, which he chugged. "The heat is making you bold. All of London will see your nakedness." Ben's sense of modesty went hurtling out of the window the second the air con went out. He wore only a pair of briefs printed with cartoon penguins. Rey had a matching set, given to them on their last anniversary by a smug Poe. 

He wiped his mouth on his arm and pressed the icy glass to his forehead. "If I could remove my skin, I would. England was supposed to be temperate."

"It's not that bad!" Rey sat on the sofa. Despite her assertion, Rey was sweating, too; Ben had graciously plaited her hair into two french braids. She was no stranger to heat after all those summers in Jakku.

"Sweetheart, it's always raining--and it's still horrible." Ben scowled at the sky like it personally wronged him. They had only lived in London a few weeks--once his job transfer had gone through, his company found them this flat, which was lovely, if not a bit dark for Rey's taste. The massive windows in the living room made up for it. The air con, however, was about twenty years old. Ben had called the building manager seven times in the course of twenty-four hours, demanding to know when the technician was expected--his phone went 'missing' in Rey's sock drawer.

The sky flashed. Ben stepped back from the window. "One, two, three, four, five, six..." he trailed off. No boom accompanied the sudden flash, but the clouds were foreboding. "Huh. Must be heat lightning." The lights flickered and the entire flat went dark. Ben pinched the bridge of his nose. "Great." He set his glass beside hers on the coffee table and went to the control panel in the front hall. He flipped the breaker but nothing happened. Of course the two hundred year old building didn't have a backup generator.

Thunder rumbled outside and the light flashed once more.

"No, no, no..." Rey jumped up. "It was only supposed to rain!" Where did she pack the torches? In the bedroom boxes? Or... kitchen?

"Rey, it's okay!" Ben called, but she ignored him, running for the kitchen. The boxes loomed in the corner but she couldn't read his chicken-scratch on the side.

"Have you seen the torches?" Rey yanked open the drawers. Many metal items with handles glinted at her but none of them produced light. She found a long-handled plastic propane lighter and flicked the trigger a few times. No flame. 

Ben followed her into the kitchen. "The lights will be back on any moment."

She slapped the lighter against his chest. "Remember when I asked you to refill this with lighter fluid but you didn't?" Rey stormed past him down the hallway towards their bedroom. She stubbed her toe against an uneven floorboard and hopped on one foot. "Ouch!"

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I forgot. Can you take a deep breath--" Thunder shook throughout the flat. Rey hunched over and covered her ears. Ben knelt in front of her, covering her hands with his. She wriggled out of his grasp.

"You're a fucking furnace!" She had a frantic, unreachable frown on her face. Ben made a deliberate decision and lifted her around the waist, dragging her into the washroom. He shut the door and plunked her in the bathtub. He closed the curtain (so she was encased in darkness), and sat with his back to the wall.

Her fingers curled into her palms. Her eyelids refused to blink. She stared at his silhouette through the clear plastic, back-lit by erratic lightning flashes from under the door. "...why the bath?" she managed.

"It's too damn hot to hold you," he said. "At least there's no window in here."

She pressed her forehead to her knees. "Smart." The sound of the thunder was faint, now that they were away from the windows. The porcelain was cool to the touch. Goosebumps popped up on her arms.

"Can I get you anything, sweetheart?"

"Just be with me." 

"I'm here." He listened to her sniffle only once before taking the toilet paper roll off the dispenser. He set the roll within her reach. Rey blew her nose.

This storm wasn't half so bad as the gale they weathered together the first time they ever went camping. They slept in the Falcon after the wind wrenched the tent out of its tether and the poles snapped... the old sprinter van stalled out on the side of the road, where they waited out the tow truck. Hail pelted divots into the paneling. Neither of them slept a wink, between Rey plastered to his chest, crying, and the incessant howling. Ben never took her camping in the early summer again.

He knew she was annoyed with herself.

"What's on your mind?" he asked.

She sniffed. "You know... when you have nightmares? And you can't get back to sleep, or you'll pick right back where you left off?" Rey let out the breath she had been holding. "What do you think about?"

He turned around and moved the curtain, enough to prop his head on the edge of the bath. He touched the back of her head with the faint brush of his knuckle. "Hmm. Sunflowers."

She peeked at him. "Really?"

"Mhm. Fields of them, as far as the eye can see, taller than me. The size of dinner plates."

Rey smiled. "Nothing's taller than you."

"This is a _fantasy_ , sweetheart. I imagine walking through the field on a sunny day, no clouds in the sky. Nowhere to be, a little breeze. Helps every time."

"They're... endless?"

"Yes."

She raised an eyebrow. "...that's kind of creepy."

"What?" 

"I mean... you're describing a cornfield, basically. Bad people hid in cornfields."

He snorted. "Ax-murderers and possessed children, maybe--hang on, are you saying I'm a bad guy?" 

"When we met, you had a _pseudonym_ \--"

"Lots of copywriters have pen names!"

"'Kylo Ren.' Blech." She pretended to vomit.

"Hey, I like it--"

"Sounds like a brand of bleach."

He pushed the shower curtain aside with a flourish and waved his hands. "Scoot over! I'm coming in."

Rey laughed. "No! You giant! You won't fit--" 

Ben sat beside her, legs hanging well over the sides of the bathtub, and tickled her sides. She writhed, laughing. She grabbed his wrists and leaned against him. She caught her breath by forcing his arms to settle around her shoulders, and they shook with laughter.

"It's too hot, you jerk!"

"Don't care," he laughed. He kissed her hair. 

She sighed. "Sorry." 

He shrugged. "For what?" 

She narrowed her eyes. Even in the dark she could make out the way his mouth quirked. "I'm... isn't this annoying to you? That I do this?"

He scoffed as if the very thought was preposterous to him. "No."

"I'm a mess, Ben--"

"You're afraid of thunderstorms! So what? I'm afraid my father will come back from the grave just to haunt me for how long my hair has gotten" He squeezed her shoulder. "I love you.”

She turned her face into his skin. "I know." 

"If this happens and I'm not here, will you call me? Even if I can't come home right away... I can talk you through it."

"I survived a lot of storms before you came along. Besides, what if you're in meetings all day? I'll be fine."

"Yes, but I would feel better if you checked in."

"Does your mother know she raised a nag?"

Ben chuckled. "Don't tell her, ok? She'd be insufferable. She already gloats about setting us up."

"Remind me to thank her." 

"Letting her plan the wedding is enough. She's overbearing and she's across the Atlantic."

Rey hummed in agreement. Another streak of light flashed under the door and her engagement ring shone for a moment. The ring was Leia's. Rey was sad not to be able to see her--sadder than Ben, even. She promised to visit before the end of summer, but she couldn't stay with them if they continued to drag their feet about unpacking.

Rey smacked his arm in excitement. "I know where the torches are!" Rey leaned over and opened the bottom drawer of the sink cabinet, producing two black Maglites. 

Ben laughed. "Why did you pack them with the bathroom stuff?"

"What's the worst place to be if the power goes out?"

"The sun."

She elbowed him in the side. "The bath!" Rey pressed the button on a torch and held it under her chin. "I'm a genius."

Ben took the other torch from her. "You're a Rey of sunshine." He shined it in her face and she cringed, batting his hand away. He laughed. "Hey, listen." He pointed the torch upwards, and gestured to his ear. There was no sign of rumbling anymore. Like a blessing, the lights came back on, and a whirl of forced air wheezed as the air con sprung to life.

"We're saved!" Ben threw his hands up.

"Your luscious mane lives another day."

"One day, you're gonna come home and it'll be--bzzzzt! Gone."

"I hope not." She tugged the hair-tie free of his ponytail and ruffled his thick hair so it fell forward over his face. "You like it too much when I pull your hair during sex, and what would I hold onto, then?"

His eyes darkened as he carded a hand back to push it off his forehead. "Get out of this bathtub," he growled. Rey giggled, jumping up. He tossed his torch back into the bathroom drawer.

Ben was on her heels, flicking off lights behind them as he went. 

"Still too hot for this!" she gasped, brandishing her torch like a sword. 

Ben advanced on her. "What are you going to do, stab me with your light sword?"

"It's more of a blunt force weapon," she winced. "Truce?"

He held up his hands in acquiescence. Rey turned off her flashlight and set it on the coffee table. She breathed out in relief. "I'm hungry. What would you say to Italian for dinner? I found a new place--Ack!" Ben tackled her to the sofa and pinned her there. He laid his head on her chest. "Why?" she sighed.

"Can you slow down?" he murmured into her neck. "We've spent the weekend in abject misery, but now the air is back on and the storm is over. Tomorrow is Monday. You were pretty upset earlier... I want to touch you for a second." He wiggled his arms beneath her and hugged her waist. Rey brushed his hair off his face.

"Ben?"

"Hmm?"

"Nothing we do can be described as 'abject misery.' So." She poked the end of his nose lovingly. 

He rested his chin on her sternum. "Do I need an excuse to hold you?" 

Rey shook her head and smiled. He looked pleased with himself and kissed her collarbone, before pillowing his head against her chest in self-satisfaction. She felt guilty that her panic attack took up so much of their Sunday. 

She still had a hard time appearing 'weak.' Storms were awful for her, always had been, since that time Mr. Plutt locked her out of the house in a howler (before she perfected running away from the bad foster placements). Something about her nearly-nude fiance depositing her into a bathtub made the fear a little... less dire. Not that lightning wasn't horrifying in the way it arced, defiant of any life in its path--coupled with explosive thunder. It wasn't so bad with a hulking, penguin-print brief-wearing, refrigerator of a man to help her through it. 

Ben was pretty open about his own fears. One of their biggest fights evolved out of his fear of losing her if his job required him to relocate, but he didn't want to stifle her either, or force her into something she didn't want. They were already engaged by that point, and he still thought she might have doubts. As if Rey didn't want this. His openness was his strength, a rare trait in men, in her experience. Said man was laying with his eyes shut, cheek squished. Not yet asleep, but could be if they laid there much longer. He fell asleep so easily, it was comical. He slept through practically every movie they tried to watch. The moment he snuggled up--boom, asleep. There was no question that he felt safe with her.

Her stomach growled. Ben opened his eyes.

"Okay, okay," he conceded. "Let's order dinner."


End file.
